


Fates Farewell

by BkWurm1



Series: Chloe/Hawkman Trilogy [3]
Category: Smallville
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2015-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-13 16:30:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3388541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BkWurm1/pseuds/BkWurm1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What Chloe learned from the Fate Helmet sent her far away from all her friends and family but before destiny demanded the ultimate sacrifice, it arranged for one final meeting between her and Hawkman and while some secrets will never be spoken, some truths should never be questioned.</p>
<p><b> Link to Big Bang artwork </b>  http://bkwurm1.livejournal.com/17376.html</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Entire series fits within Smallville canon, so the events of Icarus (Death of Hawkman) stand. 
> 
> Timeline: Season 10. Most events take place during when “Isis” would have aired (though this story has nothing to do with that episode) (October 22, 2010). Epilogue is sometime after “Icarus” (December 10, 2010). 
> 
> Xenos: Greek for Stranger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _December 15th, 2010_

A wave of pain washed over Chloe. Too late. Since the moment she touched Fate’s Helmet - too late. Her hands trembled as she shut down her computers. She’d known this day was coming. A dry sob tore through her and then another. Unable to hold them back any longer, she dropped her head into the cradle of her arms and let them come. 

_October 22, 2010 – A month and a half earlier_

  

A lone figure stood on the craggy cliffs overlooking the surging sea. Carter Hall leaned into the relentless, cutting wind. It sliced through his clothing, stealing his heat, but he stood his ground and watched while the sun sank toward the darkened waters of the Aegean, its crimson brilliance gobbled up by the steel blue waters. Electricity charged the air and a hundred feet below, the churning waves broke against the grey pebbled beach. Power in its most elemental forms surrounded him.

A storm was coming to the small Greek Island of Kythira; thankfully the tourists had safely departed weeks ago and the small population that eked out a life year round on the arid rock were sensibly tucked into their snug homes, too smart to ignore the warnings signs and venture out on a night such as this. Only the eccentric Xenos could be counted on to walk the cliffs every night, seeking and searching for something he never found. 

When the whispers about the crazy stranger staying on the island reached Carter’s ears he shrugged the news off. He’d been called much worse. The locals left him alone and apart from the proprietor of the local market who also rented him a small house perched near the cliffs, he’d spoken to no one. He welcomed the solitude. The unchanged, desolate beauty of this place was exactly what he sought, hoping to find a measure of peace denied him since he left Metropolis...since he left her. 

He’d done what was necessary, but now, months later, as his mind conjured visions of Shayera, his eternal love, - visions that signaled a coming end to this lifetime - he cursed the fate that denied him one last glimpse of the real woman who unknowingly possessed her very soul. Chloe Sullivan had vanished. 

Fate. It kept spinning him around. How had Shakespeare described it? Ah, yes, “Giddy fortune’s furious fickle wheel.” 

For decades after the forces hunting the Justice Society of America delivered his wife’s fatal blow, he’d lived in empty, aching misery. In time, he settled into a state of walking numbness. Then, ten months ago, Chloe Sullivan walked into the dusty halls of the JSA and every dormant feeling in his body roared to life. Her very presence left him confused, but he’d had more important things to concentrate on than a slim slip of a woman that led near gods about by the cluck of her tongue and the tap of her talented fingers flying across a keyboard.

Hawkman was needed again. 

When the battle that dragged him back to the exploits of the masked hero ended, he realized he couldn’t return to hiding in a museum. He asked for help reaching out to former members of the Justice Society of America. 

Had he unconsciously known that job would fall to Chloe Sullivan? Maybe. 

What he did know was when Chloe came with her files to his home layered in duty, sorrow, and sass; he hadn’t been able to let her leave without having her that moment, back against the door, wet, naked and writhing.

An afternoon - that is all it took for him to discovery two things. Nothing would assuage the griping lust she conjured and twenty-four years after he’d lost Shayera, he found her again, reborn into Chloe Sullivan, the mark of a pyramid dotted onto her cheek, and she suspected nothing. 

Fate was cruelly kind. In finding her again, he’d been given the chance to break the deadly curse that chased them into every life, but to do so he had to never let her know the love that burned in his soul. To find her and lose her in a span of a few hours was almost more than he could take, but with her unknowing blessing, he took the chance and left her then with nothing more than a note of thanks and farewell. 

Despite not being allowed to share his love, the mere knowledge that she lived filled up the emptiness and gave him the strength to stay in the fight for justice. Hawkman soared again, but temptation called and eventually he went to her, believing he could keep their encounter purely physical. 

He couldn’t. 

The sweetly brave and independent façade Chloe wore couldn’t hide her loneliness. He ached to give her the love she needed but he couldn’t steal their one chance. He knew then he had to go where temptation couldn’t follow, but before he buried his heart in the hot, Egyptian sands, he tried to mend Chloe’s relationship with Oliver Queen. Chloe’s heart was as big as the vast blue skies and as long as it meant she would be happy, he would cope with her giving it in this lifetime to someone else. 

His meddling worked, but what he knew of the mythological gods should have been fair warning; playing Cupid came at a cost. Chloe gave her heart to Oliver…and then she traded in her life.

She survived her daring barter – but that’s all they knew. Her last official message was an email to Queen, asking him not to look for her. Carter kept silent about the call she made to him on the night of her disappearance. 

In the middle of the Zod crisis and the Kandorian exodus, all communications between the team had suddenly gone down. Stationed half way around the word, Carter had been relieved to hear Chloe’s voice and even more relieved when she quickly shared the good news: Clark was safe, staying on Earth, Checkmate neutralized and the Kandorian problem officially over. Yes all good news, but the strain in her voice told him something was still very wrong.

“What aren’t you telling me? Where are you? I’ll come as fast as I can.” 

“No, don’t. I know what to do,” she reassured him. “I called to…I used the key,” she suddenly admitted. “To the Justice Society Museum.”

Before he left Metropolis, he made sure Chloe would never again be in the kind of bind that forced her to “borrow” funds from Queen Industries. He left her access to the museum and details on several items that would bring an infusion of cash. He’d hoped it had been enough. “Which of the artifacts did you sell?” 

“None of them. I…,” she hesitated, “I borrowed what I needed, but everything is back now.” Only later did he understand why her confession raised the hairs on the back of his neck. 

“But that’s not why you called me, is it.” 

“No. I have to ask you to do something.” She went silent. 

“Chloe?” Through the line, he heard her take a deep breath and then, in a rush of words, she told him Lois was taking a job in the African Bureau. 

“I need you to contact Perry White. Tell him you changed your mind and not only can he send a reporter to the Isis dig site, but that he needs to send one right away. Then you need to get back and wait for Lois.”

“How did you know I turned down an interview?” 

“All I can say is doing the interview… it’s very important.” 

He’d thought he’d heard a catch in her voice, but the connection was scratchy. He promised to call White right away and she hung up without saying goodbye. 

The next day Clark called for a favor and informed him Lois was on her way to do an interview. While Carter took a second to fathom why Clark wouldn’t know about the strings Chloe had already pulled, Clark explained how he and Lois left their relationship in limbo. Carter gladly agreed to do anything to help patch them up. He’d gladly do anything that helped insure Clark Kent stayed distracted and never woke up to the possibilities in front of him with Chloe. 

Oliver Queen was one thing, but this close to breaking the curse, Carter wasn’t going to let Mister “I can alter even destiny” get near Chloe. When Lois arrived at the dig site, he did everything he could to encourage her to return to Metropolis and Clark, only to find out afterwards of Chloe’s disappearance. 

The empty, aching feeling came back. 

A growing darkness was infecting the world, but he didn’t know if he could go on with the fight not knowing where at night Chloe laid her head or if she was safe or even still alive. 

For a while, he hid from the uncertainty. In Egypt, he immersed himself in the duties and fascination of unearthing the lost tomb of Queen Isis, but the dig couldn’t bury the reawakened pain. By the fall, he’d finished his work and reintroduced Isis to an eager world, but he rejected its offers of accolades and prestige. How could he return to Chloe’s city knowing she wasn’t there? So when the newly assembled Isis collection sped toward the Metropolis Museum, he fled with his memories to the tiny isle of Kythira. 

From somewhere over the ocean, storm clouds were rolling in. Lightning flashed on the horizon and the roiling ocean waves continued to crash on the deserted shore. The tang of salt reached his tongue.

Even here with the wilds of nature his companion, he couldn’t stop thinking about Chloe and what she sacrificed. For the ones she cared for, she would willing risk anything. This time she risked madness to use Fate’s Helmet to rescue Oliver Queen. 

Nabu whispered his answers, Chloe called and arranged for Lois to go to Egypt and then the Justice League lost its Watchtower. Lois arrived at the dig site and Carter experienced his first vision of Shayera. Coincidence? No. He’d worked with Kent Nelson, aka Dr. Fate, long enough to recognize destiny set in motion. He still worried about Chloe, but the visions his mind conjured were about his impending death, not hers. 

Since his time left in this life was winding down, did it even matter if he pulled himself together or just let the emptiness swallow him whole? He closed his eyes and concentrated on the ocean wind’s buffeting blows. The storm was growing nearer. He felt the distant thunder rumble in his chest. Kythira had drawn him back, but he’d been wrong. The island offered no peace.

Resigned, he opened his eyes, but as he turned away, something pale near the water caught his attention. It was moving along the base of the sheer cliff wall. He lost sight of it as she skirted around a rocky protrusion jutting out into the foaming surf. 

She. 

Every cell in his body went on alert. 

He was certain the wraith he watched was Chloe. He didn’t stop to analyze why or how he knew, but simply turned and ran toward the steep, narrow path that wound its way down to the ocean. The sun had just dipped below the horizon. He guessed the lingering blue twilight would silhouette the short scrubby bushes and the worn track for only a few more minutes. The moon would be full tonight but the gathering clouds blocked all but the smallest trace of its rising brilliance. That didn’t matter; his feet knew this path, knowledge ingrained over many lifetimes. 

He stepped off the worn trail and took a shortcut between the switchbacks, skidding and sliding down the steep, dry incline. He cursed the wings he’d left behind in his rented room and every extra minute he wasted as he made his way down to the beach. He had to catch her before she vanished. Every second out of his sight, he became less certain he’d seen anything but spray from the frothy sea. 

He half ran, half stumbled down the last slanted slope. Small rounded pebbles flew up in the wake of each footfall and clattered like marbles as they fell back to the ground. The clouds shifted and uncovered the pearly brilliance of the goddess in the sky. The ocean reached for the land before its silver-white tipped waves slid back into the sea. The wet, grey stones littering the beach glowed under the moonlight’s caress.

Panic tightened in his chest. There was no one there. 

“Chloe!”

Desperately, he called her name, but a gust of wind stole the sound even before the ocean’s roar muted his cry. He raced down the narrow strip toward the outcropping of rocks where he’d lost sight of her. Waves licked the jutting boulders and he timed his passing carefully to avoid stumbling into the surf. He was certain when he rounded the rocky barrier he would see her slender form walking down the beach, but a clear view stretched before him, almost alien in its harsh, empty beauty.

He staggered back a step, breathing heavily. Had she been just another vision? Then he heard the rattle of shifting pebbles. 

Carter whipped around to see Chloe emerge from a shadowy crease in the cliff wall. A white dress billowed around her legs and she tightened her hold on a fringed shawl covering her shoulders. Her golden hair had grown longer from when he’d last seen her; it absorbed the moonlight and danced on the restless breeze. An uncontrollable longing washed over him and he rushed toward her. 

Silently, her expressive eyes tracked his movement as he strode closer. She was expecting him. The instant he reached her, his hands bracketed behind her head and he ground his mouth against hers. She clutched at his shirt while their teeth gnashed in their rush to come together. Need churned wilder as the taste of her, like the sun and the sea, filled his senses. He pressed her backward against the smooth face of the rock wall and ground his hips against her softness. The soft breaking sigh that slipped from her lips inflamed him. 

Lost. Found. His.

He had no control. In an unremembered rush, he unbuttoned his jeans, pushed the stiff denim down around his thighs and dug his fingers into the soft cotton of her skirt, bunching handfuls of the material in his fists until it was out of his way. He shuddered when he realized she wore no other barrier to her body. She swayed closer and he hissed when her hot, silky stomach brushed against his hardness. 

He angled his head down and recaptured her mouth. At the same time, he stroked his hands over her hips to the smooth twin globes of her bottom. He loved the way her flesh filled his hands, but need spurred him to leave that temptation after a single squeeze. He slid his palms lower, down the backs of her thighs, until he grasped the delicate skin behind her knees. His move lifted her off her feet and parted her thighs. 

He stepped between her spread legs and adjusted his grasp so he could stroke the wide head of his erection through her moist heat. Her hands curled around his shoulders and her hot breath broke in little pants against his neck. He felt the glide of the soft, dewy liquid already pooled in waiting for him; blood and heat rushed to his cock. He parted her swollen folds, lined up his shaft at her tight entrance and surged partially inside. 

“Huh-ah,” she gasped against his ear and tightened her arms around his neck.

He groaned at the tight feel of her slick walls stretching around him as he started to fill her. He flexed his hips and worked another inch inside her body. He shuddered as a wash of wetness eased his entry. Reaching behind him, he curled her legs high over his waist and again, thrust his hips forward, this time pressing deep until he lodged the tip of his cock at the very bottom of her channel. She cried out his name and he felt the pleasure/pain of her fingernails digging into his back through the light linen of his shirt.

Gritting his teeth, he paused, consumed by the tight grip of her wet heat, loving the warm curl of feeling around his heart and the softness pressed against his chest. He inhaled her heady scent of arousal and gloried in the fact that in that moment, he possessed everything his heart desired. The sharp sting of urgent need broke through his contentment. He couldn’t keep her, but right now, right here, she was his and he wouldn’t let her forget. 

Withdrawing almost completely, he twisted his hips and screwed his way back inside. She whimpered and pushed forward to meet his stroke. He did it again just to hear her trembling high-pitched sigh. 

He wanted to savor each moment as he reseated his flesh into hers, but lust overpowered his desire to go slow. Hard, fast, and heavy, he stroked in and out of her sultry heat with only the sound of the wind, the ocean, and their broken cries rising above the pounding of his heart. Too soon, he felt the telltale signs of impending release gathering in the base of his spine. He gritted his teeth and kept jutting forward. He needed to feel the rhythmic clutch of her pleasure. 

He pressed her more firmly against the rock wall and wedged his hand between their bodies to touch and tease the hard nub of her desire. He thrust faster, strumming his hand over that little bundle of nerves. Just as everything threatened to spiral out of his control, he felt her inner muscles rippling around him. He let the waves overtake him and her sweetly feminine cries mingled with his harsh grunts of satisfaction. He wrapped his arms protectively around her back and let them slide to the ground. The slight jar in their landing set off another series of contractions in her channel. 

Burying his hand in her hair, he tilted her head back and swallowed her final gasps of pleasure before tenderly tucking her head against his chest. Peace washed over him and he was content to quietly hold her while their heartbeats slowed. 

Wetness leaked from their joined bodies and he felt a familiar surge of possessive satisfaction at odds with his gratitude in knowing Chloe wouldn’t get pregnant; she’d said something very specifically about her regimented views of taking her pill. In the decades after Sheyera’s death, he’d never once previously been tempted to have sex without a condom, but with Chloe, from the very start he’d been unable to curb his reckless behavior. 

Intellectually, between trying to break the curse and knowing what he would miss when he soon left this life behind, he emphatically did not want to leave Chloe pregnant. Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to enact any further barriers between their bodies. There was something elemental in knowing his essence lingered inside to mark and claim her as his - even if for only a few extra hours.

That’s what being here with her now was, whispered a solemn voice inside his head. One last chance to mark and claim her as his - if only for a few more hours.

“How long?” 

She tilted her head back to look at him. She knew what he asked. “I leave in the morning.”

He said nothing more, only nodded, but he’d already broken the spell and Chloe began untangling their bodies. She held onto his shoulders as she drew away. Once she straightened up, the skirt of her light cotton dress modestly fell back in place. He followed her lead and stood, yanking up his jeans and buttoning the front. He bent to retrieve the fringed shawl pooled on the pebbled beach and draped it over Chloe’s creamy shoulders. The moon was once more lost behind the clouds, but near constant flashes of distant lighting lit the lonely stretch of shore. 

He nodded back toward the way he came. “I have a small house rented on the cliff.” 

She shook her head and pointed in the opposite direction. “I have the new villa overlooking the inlet at the end of the beach.”

He nodded and took her hand; they began walking silently that direction. He had questions, more than a few, but he set them aside to enjoy the soft press of her palm against his and the rare gift of her company strolling alongside him. At one time, this beach had been their beach and the villa, the site of their home. Life had been full of simple pleasures that indulged the body and heart. The curse guaranteed their idyllic existence came to a tragic end, but centuries later, some of the old magic lingered.


	2. Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once they stepped beyond the protective rocky outcropping, the rising winds lashed at their clothing. They hugged the edge of the beach, keeping close to the sheer cliff wall, but waves crashed against land with enough force to send the sea’s currents lapping at their feet. Carter glanced more carefully at the storm brewing over the ocean. A streak of lighting zig zagged through the heavy, dark clouds; almost instantly, he felt the air around them vibrate with booming thunder. They were halfway to their destination but he doubted they would make it before what was brewing broke over land. 

He squeezed Chloe’s hand, “Come on, we’ll have to run for it.” She followed his lead and they dashed down the beach toward a series of narrow steps carved into the rising face of the cliff. Once there, he scooped her into his arms and bounded up the path he’d painstakingly etched into the landscape many lifetimes ago. 

Before he’d climbed a third of the way up, fat, wet drops slicked the hillside and soaked through his clothes. He tucked Chloe closer to his chest and slowed their ascent. By the time they reached the top, the heavens completely opened up. Cold rivulets sluiced off his neck while Chloe shivered in his arms. 

“You know I could have climbed the stairs on my own; at least the workout might have kept me warm.”

“This is faster.” He flashed her a grin. “Don’t worry; I’ll get you hot again.”

She smiled and rolled her eyes. “Promises, promises.”

He was grateful to see the white washed walls of the new villa gleaming brightly during the next flash of lightning. The ornate square lanterns placed on every other step leading up to the house flickered weakly in the rain. The heavy deluge had already doused several, but the golden glow from the remaining lanterns guided them to the indigo blue door. It was unlocked and he whisked them inside; the force of the wind slammed the door shut behind them. Carter set Chloe on her feet and ran his fingers back through his wet hair. She paused to spread her drenched shawl over several hooks by the door.

Inside the villa, gossamer curtains billowed in from the wind. Puddles of the blowing rain had already formed on the red tile floor. Chloe rushed to close the shutters. Cater knew he should help but for a moment he was frozen, unable to look away. Soaked to the skin, Chloe’s dress conformed to her body, turning diaphanous where it clung to her curves. He caught a glimpse of dusky pink circles and darkened shadows before she turned away. 

Finally, Carter headed for a window, reaching around the stucco sill to pull shut the matching blue shutters, blocking the wind and rain quicker than it would take to slide each clear window pane closed. Systematically, they moved through the villa securing the windows. Chloe grabbed a towel and bent to wipe the rain off the floor. As enticing was the picture that she made, Carter still plucked the towel out of her hands. He scooped her into his arms again. 

“But the floor is wet,” she protested even as she wound her arms around his neck.

“It’ll keep. You’re freezing.” He carried her into the large opulent bathroom at the center of the villa. The room was heavily inspired by the ancient Greek baths and had columns in each corner, a large sunken tube in the middle, and built in heated marble slabs on the sides for lounging for when the room was used as a steam bath. A drain in the low point of the floor attested to the room’s conversion. 

Carter set Chloe on her feet, opened up the tub’s faucets, and activated the steam function - careful to adjust the temperature so they would be enveloped in a warm mist but not scalded in a humid pressure cooker. Immediately he could hear the rising hiss of steam starting to work through the pipes, but it would take time before the moist heat chased the chill from the room. He turned back to Chloe and pointed his finger. “Strip.”

“What?” Chloe asked between bouts of shivering. “Is the wet t-shirt look not working for you?” She impishly raked her eyes over him. “It’s working for me.” 

He glanced down and noticed his white linen shirt plastered to his body much like her dress clung to hers. He grinned, but stepped forward, quickly grabbed the hem of her dress, pulled it up over her head and tossed it on the marble bench. “You look great, but your lips are turning blue.” He helped her remove her sandals before he stripped off his shirt too. “Then there is the clammy factor. Definitely a draw back.” 

“I guess you are fated to be disappointed. Right now, every inch of my skin is clammy.”

He toed off his shoes and shoved his stiff jeans out of the way before scooping her back into his arms. He sucked in his breath; she hadn’t been lying. Her skin was more icy damp than the wet shirt he’d been wearing. She raised one eyebrow and pressed her lips together, silently giving him the ‘I told you so look’. 

The corner of his mouth tugged upward and he shook his head. “Nope, not disappointed. There’s clammy and then there’s naked and clammy.”

She smiled even as her teeth started chattering. “Makes a difference, huh?”

“Hell yes.”

***

Chloe held tight to Carter as he stepped into the filling tub and lowered them into the water. She hissed in pleasure as the warmth covered their feet and legs. He scooped up handfuls of the blissfully warm liquid and spread it over her hips and lower back.

Chloe groaned as the water rose and began to steal away the chill racking her body. The rising humidity in the room and the pure body heat Carter radiated helped as well. She rubbed her cheek against the smooth silk of his chest while she enjoyed the transfer of warmth, skin to skin. His arms wrapped loosely around her back as the tub filled. After a while, she sighed in contentment. She heard the squeak of the faucet being turned off and then felt the deep rumble of Carter’s voice. 

“All warmed up?” 

Languidly, she opened her eyes and glanced at Carter. He watched her with a fire banked in his hooded blue eyes. Had anyone ever looked at her with such unhidden longing? She was suddenly aware of a hot column of flesh pressed against her hip. How could she resist him? Why would she want to?

She traced her fingertips over the stubble along his jaw and then skimmed around the soft edges of his slightly parted lips. “Warm yes, but I remember being promised hot.”

His nostrils flared wide before he surged up to take her mouth with his. The kiss was less frantic than the one they’d shared on the beach but equally as hungry. Wonderfully thrilling, his agile mouth drew up the hard, twisting heat into her stomach. She dipped her arm into the silky, warm water of the tub on her way to winding it around his neck and into his hair, trying to find something to hold onto as she floated on dizzy intoxication. Every time they’d been together it had been like this. A touch and her mind turned to mush and just like last time, it still caught her off guard. 

They broke apart for a moment and she slowly fluttered her eyes open, taking the time to let the world shifting around her slow its heady spin. Carter was studying her again. Reverently he caressed the side of her face. “By the gods,” he whispered, “you are beautiful.” 

From Carter, it wasn’t just flattery; sincerity shimmered in his eyes. His warm admiration filled up the deepest, coldest space inside. She slowly turned into his caress until she could press a kiss against the palm of his hand, but when he would have crushed her close in his arms again, she stiffened and shook her head. He gave her a quizzical look but settled back as she drew her hands from around his neck, letting her fingertips glide slowly along every muscle and sinew she encountered as she sat up. 

She felt the heat in his gaze as blatantly as she felt the tiny rivulets of water run between her breasts. His eyes dipped down to follow the trail of droplets, but otherwise he remained frozen beneath her. Funny how that worked; because while he stayed motionless, he never remained still. 

As she stroked her palms over his chest and across his abdomen, he tightened and twitched beneath her exploration. Their eyes locked and stayed that way as she reversed course and let her splayed hands flow back up his chest, over his shoulders and then down his muscled arms to his strong, knowing hands. 

A bead of water gathered at the end of her wet hair and fell onto the upper curve of her breast, a tiny whisper of a touch magnified by the intensity of his gaze. Her skin tightened and she swallowed, her throat suddenly felt dry. 

She laced her fingers between his larger, rougher digits and slid them upward, enjoying the tickling sensation of his more weathered skin dragging along the tender inside flesh of her fingers. When the callused pads on the palm of his hands scraped delicately across the sensitive center of her smooth palms, she shivered and closed her eyes, unable to bear the intensity of his gaze. She’s started this as a way of showing her appreciation for the masculine beauty she beheld, something she never seemed to get the chance to do and something she suspected from the increasingly tense manner in which he held himself immobile beneath her that she was running out of time to accomplish.

Her nearing deadline only spurred her to quicker action. Still avoiding his eyes, she scooted down so she could place kisses against his warm neck and then down the center of his chest. Even without his Hawkman regalia, the scent of oiled leather lingered, mixing with the headier musk of pure man. Her lips hovered above his taut skin as she moved down his body, his muscles contracting beneath her touch, his body growing more rigid and his breath more shallow. She was just nearing her intended target when he surged up in the water and rolled her beneath him. A wave of water spilled over the edge.

\-----

Unable to take one second more of her sweet exploration, Carter pinned Chloe’s hands above her head, but she still squirmed in his grasp.

“Let me touch you.” 

He ground his teeth together and shook his head. “Can’t. Strips my control.”

She bit her lush lower lip and boldly arched against him like a temple cat demanding attention. “I want you to lose control.”

He dropped his head to the side and scrunched his eyes shut as another lust filled shudder went through him. He took a deep breath trying to ignore the scent of her humid sweetness. He slowly exhaled between clenched teeth while he shook his head again. He couldn’t take what she was so sweetly offering, couldn’t let his guard down for fear he’d not stop at taking the physical pleasure she was generously willing to give, but also reach for the loving promise he saw veiled behind her eyes. Right now awareness of her past lives eluded her, but she was following her instincts and they pushed him to the edge. 

“I have to have it, I need that little bit of distance,” he told her. She stopped arching against him. 

He forced himself to open his eyes. She was watching him with a guarded expression and he hated, hated that he’d put it there. Chloe pursed her lips. Half a minute passed before she spoke. “Is it because…because of Shayera? Am I asking for a part of you that’s hers?” She quietly asked. 

His heart twisted in his chest. It was the truth; it was a lie. He curtly nodded and wondered if she would now turn away. Instead, she surprised him again and softened beneath him. Acceptance eased the lines on her forehead.

“Ok.” She glanced up at him through her lashes. “It’s not like I have any complaints; I like it when you….”, as Chloe trailed off a flush stole across her cheeks.

Desire bolted through him in a rush. He let more of his weight bear down on her body, another wave lapped at the edge of the tub. He caressed the wrists he held securely in his grip. “You like it when I what?” 

She licked her lips. Fire and a knowing heat smoldered in her eyes. “Take what you want. Sometimes I think you could make me do anything you want.”

Another wave of lust traveled through him. The minx had other ways of making him lose control and she knew it. The pain of repeatedly losing her through the ages had created a possessive darker side that he tried to keep under reign for fear of scaring or just plain pissing her off with his baser instincts. 

They’d slipped out before, like tonight on the beach. Thankfully, Chloe had always responded to him, but now her sultry confession gave him permission to unleash anything he was holding back. He dug down deeply for the last bit of control and tried to turn the tables. He would not lose control. Not now. Not when he was so close to securing their future.

“You’ve got it backwards.” He switched both of her wrists to one hand. “I’m slave to what you want, to the need I feel burning off your body.” Her breath hitched as he slid his hand down between the slick heat of her thighs. He boldly traced the outer folds covering her sex, running his fingers up and down the seam before parting it and gently gliding over the hidden treasures inside. He skimmed the hard nub straining to be touched and she whimpered.

He lowered his head, “You’ve made me helpless,” and brushed his mouth against hers, “helpless to resist the sounds of your need,” and whispered between kisses, “urging me to fill you up.”

“Carter…,” she panted his name. 

“It’s a dance. Ancient. New. Irresistible.” He nudged apart her knees and pressed closer. “Open yourself Chloe, feel this night to your soul; never forget me.” He lined up their bodies and slowly sank inside. She arched and twisted trying to get closer. He released her wrists and clasped her hips. She dug her hands into his hair and tugged him closer, pulling his mouth back to hers. When he bottomed out inside her, her head fell back on a gasp. The arch of her creamy neck bent back in surrender was too tempting to ignore. He pressed his lips just below her jaw where he could feel the thrum of life rushing through her veins before he nibbled and scrapped the delicate exposed skin. 

She fisted the hair at the back of his neck and sinuously turned her neck in time with his attentions. He snaked an arm around waist so his palm splayed against the curve of her back and held her in place while he rotated his hips. Her knee slipped up to hug his waist and the hand not at the back of his head clung to his shoulder. 

“Open, warm, trusting. You… my erotic creature, meant to touched, caressed…” Loved, he finished silently to himself. 

He rocked into her body, not letting anything separate them. Making love in a tub where water threatened to wash away the natural moisture their bodies created, was a skill he’d perfected over the eons. He moved in deep, pressing their pelvic bones together and twisting his hips. Chloe jerked beneath him, gasped and drew him back into a consuming kiss. 

He continued to swallow her growing whimpers and needy cries as he made continuous little circles directly stimulating her clit. He fought against his desire to jackhammer in and out of her body for as long as he could but when she shivered and squirmed spasmodically against him, he gave into the moist hot grip of her body. Slipping a leg beneath hers, he yanked her close and rolled them in the water, positioning Chloe on top above the water line sloshing around the sunken marble tub. 

He splayed his hands out following the curves of her back to her lush bottom. From there his fingers dented the sides of her hips. Taking a firm grip, he raised her up before firmly reseating her against his flesh. Chloe broke away from their kiss and braced her hands against his chest. Pleasure and confusion clouded her eyes. He kept hold of her and continued to repeatedly raise and lower her hips over his cock, using her like he would his hand.

He groaned as Chloe arched her back and took over the wild tempo he had set. She pulled the warm moist air into her lungs and together they gasped like they were running. He couldn’t look away. Beautiful and rare, she tilted her head back, shifting from rising and falling to moving her hips in a sinuous writhe, riding and grinding faster and faster with her eyes closed. 

The elegant curve of her arched back thrust the lush view of her lovely form directly in his face. His eyes lingered briefly on a new gauntness marking her ribcage, noting weight loss she couldn’t afford to lose, but the bounty of her softly mounded breasts stole his attention. Her nipples were taut and her skin flushed a deep pink from more than the steam and her exertion. She was an offering he couldn’t resist. He sat forward and sucked hard on her nearest breast. Her soft grunt reached his ears even as her rhythm faltered. 

He gentled his attention to her sensitive flesh but didn’t let up, switching between the soft globes. The sweet sound of her rising whimper played above the roar of blood pounding in his head. His hands ran up and down the bowed lines of her back to the gentle indent of her waist before sweeping back up. Digging his thumbs in the bunched up muscles at the base of her neck, he rocked his hips in time with the rapid swivel of hers. Something deep and heavy caught at him, gathered in like matter collapsing into the sun and then jetted into the heliosphere. Nothing could keep him from shouting his pleasure to the gods, Chloe’s higher, urgent tones mixed with his lower earthy cries. 

****** 

The world came slowly back to Chloe. Did she pass out or had her weeks of sleepless nights finally caught up to her? Chloe couldn’t make the distinction but she did know it was the squeak of the faucet handles on the tub that roused her from her stupor. Without moving away from her, Carter manipulated the tub controls (he even had wickedly talented feet) to spill fresh water into the bath, raising the levels so blissfully warm liquid once again caressed her lower back and legs. 

She rested with her head against his shoulder and relaxed boneless against his body. Months after Fate set her on this achingly lonely path, there were times that all that kept her going was knowing this respite awaited her. She squeezed her eyes shut; she wouldn’t think about those days now. Instead, she would bask in the relief of Carter Hall finding her right where Nabu promised. 

As if Carter knew what she was thinking, he turned off the flow of water and cleared his throat, getting ready finally to ask the question to which she knew he must already know the answer. It came without accusation.

“You knew I’d be here on Kythira. How?” 

She listened to the dying swirl of the storm outside and to the calm, steady heartbeat beneath her ear. Carter Hall had been Kent Nelson’s closest friend for decades and likely was the only person left in the world who could come near to understanding her experience, so she said simply, “the Helmet.”

“Tell me,” Carter urged and the story she could only partially share came spilling out.

“When Oliver was taken, I knew Fates Helmet was my best hope. I took the key for the Justice Society museum and the moment I unlocked the front door, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. It was as if Nabu had been waiting for me. A whispering voice led me to where I needed to go.” Chloe shook her head, trying to clear the memory; sometimes she still heard the voice calling to her, whispering her name while she slept. Only when she fulfilled her role in Fate’s plan would it stop. 

“I know when Kent Nelson used the helmet, Nabu turned him into Dr. Fate,” she explained, “but my using the helmet was different. I wasn’t taken over or transformed, not like he was, but it didn’t reject me either. I had the helmet on for only seconds but it felt like forever. Some instructions were incredibly precise, right down to cell numbers, names, faces. Things like the date and place where I’d find you, even the antidote to the poison I needed to fake my death. But much of the vision was vague. Images, intense impressions and feelings. 

One message was very clear. I risked losing everyone and everything I loved unless I stayed away until…,” Chloe paused and swallowed hard. Now was not the time to think of that. “Until a certain event happens, but as to how I am to save anyone after that, well,” she huffed, “I guess that one’s up to me to figure out.” 

Carter stroked his hand down along her spine and then back up again. “I suspect staying away is the one thing you couldn’t do without Nabu’s influence. All else, you are capable of undertaking without guidance.” 

Chloe twisted her neck to look up at him. He seemed so certain, so sure. His trust did something to her. She was blinking back the stinging sensation behind her eyes when suddenly his body tensed beneath hers.

“If Nabu instructed you to stay away from everyone; why did you take this risk?”

She shook her head and briefly closed her eyes. “No. Not everyone.” She placed a hand on his chest. “I knew you would be here.”

“But why then wouldn’t…”

She pressed her fingers to his lips. “Please, no more questions.” Beneath her fingertips, his mouth flattened and frustration sparked in his stormy blue eyes. She shook her head and implored him. “Please. I can’t…” Tears gathered again in her eyes. 

He frowned for a moment. “I have to ask one more question.” He searched her face. “What about Queen? What about Oliver?”

A now familiar, resigned sorrow stole through her. “What about him?” Her voice sounded flat. She shrugged despondently. “I left months ago. Told him not to look for me. It’s over.”

“You still care for him.”

Her muscles tensed, chasing away what remained of her languorous mood. Pursing her lips, she gave him a short nod. “Yes.” 

She cared about Oliver and in some ways missed him every day, but she was oddly accustomed to that kind of pain. Years of aching for a man she couldn’t have had left her less vulnerable to that sort of loss. She was less experienced dealing with the overpowering connection she felt with Carter, her part in what was to come and the helplessness she felt knowing…, no. She wouldn’t think of it. She held her body incredibly still, using the force of her will to keep from breaking down. 

She shook her head. “Too much time has gone by. I can’t expect him to still feel the same way or expect to start again.”

Carter clasped the fingers of one of her hands in his, lifted it and pressed a kiss just below her knuckles. His blue eyes softly searched hers. “He does. He will.”

His tenderness kindled a keen yearning around her heart. “How can you know that?”

“Because I know something about love. And he loves you.” His thumb glided lightly over her cheek, tracing a three-point pattern. He softly smiled. “And because no matter how long it takes, you are a woman worth waiting for.”

Tears pooled and overflowed from her eyes; a sob caught in her chest. She pushed off his chest and turned away from him. She drew her knees up close to her chest. “I’m sorry. Give me a minute.” She pressed her hand over her mouth and tried to collect herself, but she’d been alone too long, and his comfort and the echo of the past undid her control. Another broken cry escaped.

“Come here.” Strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her back against his chest. He pressed his lips against her temple and then nuzzled his cheek against hers. “You don’t have to be strong right now. I’ve got you.” She clasped her hands over his, hugging his embrace. She leaned her head back against his shoulder and let the tears come. 

For all she’d lost and for all she’d left behind -

She wept for herself.

From the weight and responsibility of needing to save the saviors of the future - 

She wept in fear for the world. 

Knowing she couldn’t save everyone -

She wept for the man that held her. 

 

Chloe twisted in his arms until she was again facing him, then she twined her arms around his neck and buried her face against his chest. He held her tightly and let her pain flow without trying to stop it. He stroked her wet hair and murmured the same soft words in an ancient language he’d spoken before. She’d tried to translate them after they’d last been together but the dialect eluded her. Still, the low rumbling of his voice and the rhythm of his words soothed her like a forgotten lullaby. Eventually the violent storm of emotions settled into merely the stuttered sound of her breathing. 

She barely stirred as he fiddled with the drain. Her eyelids were too swollen and heavy to lift. She was warm. She wasn’t alone. She was safe in Carter’s arms and for the first time in months, maybe years, she didn’t feel adrift and lost. A little voice in her head said she was being melodramatic, so she lifted her unsteady head from the cushion of his chest. 

“I should…” 

“Shh. Let me take care of you.” Water sloshed around them as Carter tucked her against his chest and rose out of the tub. He wrapped one towel around her hair and used another to softly dry the rest of her body. He quickly used it on himself and then scooped her back into his arms.

“You don’t have to. I can…”

He interrupted again, this time to press a kiss to her forehead. “Close your eyes. Rest for a while.” She laid her head back on his shoulder and cuddled against his warm humid skin.

“Maybe just a little while.” She mumbled, the pull of slumber making her words sound thick. “So tired.” Not just physically exhausted, but emotionally. She always needed to be strong, always needed to fix something, someone. But not Carter. Can’t fix this. 

He entered the bedroom and slipped back the comforter. “Everything is going to be alright,” he promised as he placed her on the mattress, eased in next to her, and then pulled her back into his arms so her head rested again on his chest.

She knew he was wrong and yet, a part of her wanted to believe him. She softly asked him a question of her own. “Shayera…the curse. Do you think you’ve ended it?” For some reason, in this place between slumber and consciousness, his answer had become very important to her.

He paused for a moment and then laughed softly. “I’m not sure I have the right to, but I feel it. Destiny is in motion. The cycle will have been broken. When next I am reborn, my love and I will finally have our chance.”

Curiosity lifted some of her lethargy; she tilted her head to the side. “What did you do?”

He shook his head and stroked his fingertips up and down the curve of her spine. “I can’t explain. You’ll have to trust me on this.” Her body melted against his.

“I do.” He again strummed his fingers along her back. “Hmm,” she hummed sleepily. “I do trust you.” Completely, but she didn’t know why and there, at the edge of her consciousness, she felt like she should know and that elusive knowledge would explain why he’d breezed past all her defenses and why she wasn’t interested in analyzing why she, in some ways, trusted him more completely than anyone she’d ever known. The answers didn’t come, instead a dream populated with pyramids and pharaohs, desert skies and ancient words began to form. She smiled as she drifted off; she’d had this dream before. 

Carter watched Chloe while she slept. He noted the new sharpness of her collarbone and the shadows beneath the dark fan of her eyelashes. The need to shield her from suffering rose up strong, but he was powerless. No, it was worse than that, he had to let the pain come, needed to leave her alone in sorrow to finish fate’s prophecy. 

What would that cost her? What had it already cost her? A darkness was coming, something he recognized even in the hardened gazes of strangers he passed on the street. Chloe was the antipathy of darkness and her brightness insured she would be a target. 

But she was strong. He clung to that knowledge. Her strength was what made everything possible. He’d told her the truth about the curse. Logical or not, he sensed its icy fingers loosening their grip on his soul. The future was rewritten. They would part ways and before the year ended, he would pass from this earth perpetrating the pretense that she meant nothing to him but as a fellow fighter and a passing pleasure. 

A stronger man would leave now, but he would take the morning deadline. Fate was already surging ahead. The time left was apart from everything. Nothing could change the paths they tread and in the morning, he would leave and continue down fates lonely road leaving Chloe to do the same. 

In the meantime, he drew in her heady scent, savored the satin of her skin beneath his gently stroking hands and cherished the hot wash of her breath breaking against his neck. This was the memory he would fall asleep to every night for the rest of his life. This moment, the moment when she was his and he could be hers. He wished he could memorize each remaining second but as the tension he’d carried with him slowly seeped from his muscles, his eyes fell closed and he followed her into slumber. At least in his dreams, they never parted.


	3. Part Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe woke up to the whispered lap of the sea sweeping far below over the beach. The storm that had swept in from the turbulent ocean had spent its wild fury. While she’d slept, Carter must have opened the bedroom shutters, taking advantage of the revitalizing air flooding the island. The window at the foot of the bed framed a starry night. The full moon shined brightly in the sky just below its zenith, telling her she’d slept for several hours but that they still had most of the night ahead of them. She touched the rumpled spot next to her on the mattress and but didn’t feel any trace of Carter’s body heat. He must have been up for a while. 

She arched her back and stretched her limbs; enjoying the light burn in her muscles. Her mind was clear again, the ache next to her heart less acute and the tightness in her chest gone. She took a deep breath of the salted ocean breeze before she swept back the covers. She shivered and hurried over to slide closed the windows, though she left the shudders open so the moonlight continued to fill the room. 

Then, seeking something to wear, she found Carter’s white linen shirt draped over the back of a chair. The thin material was already dry so she slipped it around her shoulders, happily reveling in the cliché as she rolled the long sleeves up to her elbows and buttoned down the shirt that loosely hung to about mid-thigh. 

Her hair was dry on one side, damp on the other and sticking out in all directions but apart from running her fingers through it as she left the bedroom, she didn’t waste time on styling. Her stomach rumbled and she followed her nose downstairs to the kitchen where coffee and something yeasty in the oven called her name. 

Chloe found Carter there as well, holding up a pair of now dry jeans. He must have found the combo washing machine/dryer stashed beneath the counter. Doing laundry in the kitchen, as was the practice in so many European countries, still looked odd to her American eyes, but Hawkman displaying his prowess at fluffing and folding while only wearing a full length, purple, stripped apron upped the strange scene to surreal. 

She pressed her fingers over her mouth to hide her smile and hugged the doorway. Next to him on the counter were stacks of neatly folded clothing. In addition to the white dress she’d worn earlier, she recognized the load of clothes she’d left washing when she’d gone down to the beach. Her socks were rolled in compact little balls and it appeared he had separated her bras and panties into matched sets. 

Just then, a buzzer went off next to the oven. He killed the noise and then peeked inside the oven. Heating up inside, she identified the loaf of fresh bread she’d purchased earlier in the day but hadn’t had the appetite to eat. She was starving for something now. Carter pulled on a pair of mismatched green and yellow oven mitts, opened the oven door fully and then bent low to retrieve the bread. In the process, he flashed his flexing derrière and this time, she couldn’t contain her muffled snort. 

Apparently, there were two full moons out tonight.

“So what, are you planning on standing there snickering for the rest of the night?” 

Discovered, Chloe pushed off from the door jam and entered the kitchen. She tilted her head. “I don’t suppose you would hold still while I go get my phone. Some things really should be preserved for posterior…oops, I mean, posterity.”

He straightened and set the metal cooking sheet on the counter with a thump. 

He scowled. “There really is something to be said for the pre-digital age. This would never happen during my previous lifetime.”

She looped her arms around his neck, went up on her tip toes and pressed a quick kiss to his down turned mouth. 

“How very dull.” 

His arm wrapped around her waist and bent down for a more satisfying kiss. One of her hands drifted down his naked back until Carter jumped and pulled back. He stared at her incredulously.

“Did you just pinch my…”

She laughed freely at his discomfort. “It was so very…pinchable.”

“We’ll discuss payback later. Sit.” He steered her to the kitchen table, plopped a mug in front of her and filled it with the wonderfully brewed coffee she’d scented earlier. Instinctively her hands cradled the offering and reverently she inhaled the complex aroma. Thoroughly distracted with the first precious sips, she missed seeing Carter exchange his pretty purple apron for his button fly jeans. Her disappointment at missing a glimpse of the money shot was mitigated by the heavenly display of his smooth, toned chest. She licked her lips. 

“Hungry?”

She nodded but he ignored the heat in her eyes and brought over the bread and a tray of fruit. He tore off a generous hunk of the chewy bread, drizzled it with olive oil and pressed it into her hands. “Eat.”

She rolled her eyes, but still tore into the hot, crusty delight. She was famished. She couldn’t remember the last time food tasted this good. Carter sat across from her and they shared a cozy feast. She finished her bread and was reaching for another bunch of the sweetly tart grapes, when she noticed Carter staring at her with his head turned to an angle. 

Popping a juicy round sphere in her mouth she asked, “Is something the matter?”

He shook his head. “Only that we never had the chance to share a meal before.”

She laughed. “I believe it’s too late to worry about buying me dinner first.”

“If I could, I’d have done so very much more.” His earlier playfulness had slipped away. “Promise me something.”

She put down the rest of her grapes. “What is it?”

He took her hand. “After you return and save the day, and I know you will,” he said with a quick squeeze to her hand, “promise me you won’t forget about yourself.” He leaned forward and brushed his fingertips through the feathery wisps of her drying hair. “You give so much. To do what we do, there needs to be a balance.”

She tilted her head and wrinkled her nose. It sounded like he was suggesting she opt out of the League’s future business. She shook her head. “Clark can’t be the only one fighting.”

“That’s not what I’m saying. I do believe Clark will inspire the world, but he will not have done it on his own. You have the most generous heart and you put all that caring into action. It’s part of what makes you incredibly special, but it’s also what worries me.”

She pulled her hand free and leaned back. “You don’t need to worry about me. Despite what you might think, I really can take care of myself.”

He nodded his head and turned his gaze toward the open window and the moon hovering over the crashing waves. “I’m counting on it.” 

She shivered at something in his tone of voice. She studied his face; a knowledge, both deep and sorrowful, hung in his eyes. He spoke again. 

“I fear this time I won’t be there to help finish this fight.” 

Chloe tensed. He spoke as if…as if… he knew. She shook her head, denying the truth that she already knew. 

“Don’t say that.” Tears she’d thought she’d run out of, pricked her eyes and rapidly threatened to spill over the edges.

“Hey. Look at me,” he softly urged. She blinked rapidly and wiped at her eyes. He took her hand again and held it between his palms. “There is no reason for tears.”

“Isn’t there?” She shot back, pulling her hand free and pushing away from the table. Carter flattened his lips and looked away. “I’m not imagining it. You really do know, don’t you? You used Fate’s Helmet too.” she accused.

Horror rippled across his face. “Gods no. Had I known you would even consider risking that madness inducer…,” he trailed off, clenching his jaw, struggling to regain control. He let out a breath and shook his head. “That doesn’t matter now.” 

“If not the Helmet, then how?”

“Visions. It’s part of the curse.” 

“Visions?” She shook her head and paced the length of the kitchen. Visions. She wanted to deny them but how could she when she’d abandoned her entire life on the strength of visions. The red, clay, tile sucked the heat from her bare feet. She shivered and crossed her arms in front of her middle. No, she shouldn’t just accept it, should never have just accepted it. She spun back around to face him. “Fate can be changed. It doesn’t…”

“Not for me,” he told her gently and arose from the table. “I’ve had these visions come to me again and again, since the first time I lost Shayera. As my time in a life approaches an end, I am given glimpses of her as she was in the past.” He squeezed her shoulders. “It is as it has always been.”

She looked away. “I hate it. I hate it. How can you not want to fight it?”

Carter’s hand drifted toward her face. His warm fingers cupped her cheek. He studied her mutinous expression and amusement played around the corners of his mouth. 

“Chloe, for more than two decades I wondered why the universe forced me to go on after it took Shayera. Wondered and cursed my very existence.”

“Are you’re saying you’re ready for death?”

“Not so long ago I would have said yes, but no, I’ve been given new meaning to my life since…since meeting the new generation of heroes.” The corner of his mouth turned up again. “I can’t explain what it’s meant to me.” He glided his fingers back through her hair, his thumb grazing her cheek in that oddly angular pattern he did. 

His ardent blue eyes softened and a real smile formed on his lips. “You, Chloe Sullivan will do amazing things. Your faith and imagination has already accomplished more than you know, but your needs count too. Don’t let my end or anything else stop you from dreaming new beginnings. Promise me.”

In Carter’s eyes, she saw nothing resembling anger, grief or fear, just the shadow of regret. Regret that he wouldn’t be there to share in the charge against the darkness? Maybe, but the depths of his blue eyes held another truth as well, one that reminded her that his most cherished hopes rested in breaking the curse that kept him from a long and happy life with his destined love. 

In a scarred over corner of her heart she felt an unexpected stab of pain. She’d known from the start that he wasn’t hers so she pushed aside the jealous ache. It wasn’t true jealousy she told herself, but, oh, for once to be the object of such love. 

Ignoring pointless wishes, Chloe nodded her head. She’d always feel the unfair sting of what was to come, but for now, she’d try to give him what he wanted. 

“I promise. At this point, I’m not even sure what those dreams might look like, but I promise to go looking for them.”

His smile returned. “Then no more talk of tomorrow.”

“I suppose you have the rest of the night all planned out.” 

The corners of his eyes crinkled and a mischievous glint that stole her breath sparkled in his eyes. 

“No plan. Just a man. And a woman.”

The first time she’d seen his face, a deep furrow cut between his brows, a line full of anger and grief. From that instant, she’d wanted to ease it away. Hints of the crease remained etched on his face, but the severity was gone. His inner rage had faded and today, the tables had turned and Carter Hall was doing his best to smooth the frown lines from her forehead. 

She crumbled beneath the sheer charisma he channeled. Tomorrow was out of her hands, but she could still choose how to enjoy today. She didn’t have to force the smile that slowly unfurled. 

“Sounds like an excellent combination.” 

Later, Chloe could not remember who first moved toward the other, the sudden mingling of breaths and the wild beat of hearts crowded out unnecessary details. There simply suddenly was no distance between them. Mouths merged and arms twined as they pressed together. 

Coming together now was very different than their first time when she arrived on his doorstep naively unaware of the electricity arcing between them, though it hadn’t taken long before she understood. One touch, the light, seemingly innocent brush of the back of his hand against the exposed curves of her breasts as he examined the pendant on her necklace and it was like he’d cast a spell. In minutes, he’d been methodically undressing her, layer by layer, while she could do nothing but ache, burn and shiver. Something about the man made her desperate to feel like only a woman can. Powerful and vulnerable at the same time. She gave into the same silent allure now. 

Carter’s faded, old jeans felt soft and delightfully cool rubbing against her legs but the rest of the man was a furnace. His chest radiated its heat through the light linen fabric draped over her torso. Like earlier in the hot bath, warmth seeped into her muscles, softening and relaxing them even as a new tension grew. His callused hands worked gently down her back and then beyond, hiking up her shirttail and squeezing soft handfuls of her flesh. His touch floated lower, along the crease where the curve of her bottom met the tops of her legs; she sucked in her breath each time he grazed the sensitive spot. If this was payback for a pinch, sign her up. 

He pulled her with him a few steps toward the hallway, but with so many wonderful distractions getting in the way, their progress out of the kitchen and presumably to the bedroom was slow. They made it as far as the kitchen archway before Carter backed her against the wall, her spine pressed against the narrow plaster edge. He kissed her hard and she was grateful for the extra support behind her. Magic hands and a wicked mouth - the combination turned her knees to mush. She returned his kiss, getting lost in the drugging waves of pleasure, and only pulled back when she ran into a conflict between his kisses and breathing. She was gasping before breathing won out. 

Distracted with his own attempt to catch his breath, Carter was easy to move back and in a quick turn, she had him out of the kitchen and pivoted around so this time it was she who pressed him against the wall. Arching up on her tiptoes, she speared her fingers into his dark, sandy brown hair while Carter’s arms came around her waist, pulling her close and helping to steady her as she made her exploration. His hair was surprisingly fine; he’d let it grow almost to the point of soft curls. They slipped thought her fingers like silk. 

She smiled when he closed his eyes and leaned into her touch, lifting his chin and exposing his throat like a cat demanding attention. He probably wouldn’t like being compared to a cat with the whole Hawkman persona but she didn’t know enough about raptors to know if they liked being pet, though this one definitely did. 

Leaning forward, she tested the scrape of his short beard against the delicate skin of her lips. They tingled as she nipped and explored the angle of his jaw and the tender flesh beneath his chin. She wanted to recall every taste and texture of Carter Hall, but he was a man with a goal and suddenly they flipped places again. 

The move had her half lifted from the floor so she wrapped a leg around his waist. Carter growled his approval and followed up by adjusting his stance so the apex of her thighs fit snuggly against the hard bulge confined by his jeans. She bit her lip and squirmed against him. He lowered his head to the curve of her neck, held her steady and rocked his hips forward. Her nails dented the skin between his shoulder blades. A gasp slipped from her lips that he chased after again and again. The deep ache inside was sweet torture. 

She wiggled out of his hold and he let her repeat her earlier maneuver. They traveled down most of the hallway like that, switching back and forth like the interconnected cascade of wooden blocks on a Jacob’s Ladder, taking turns whose back met the wall. Finally too impatient with their slow pace, Carter yanked her off her feet. Chloe shrieked and laughed as he crooked his arm around her waist and dragged her the final feet to the bottom of the stairs. 

He released her long enough for her to consider if she should make a run up the stairs so he would chase her or let herself be swooped up again in his arms, bridal style. She went with option number three and leapt up at him, knowing he would catch her. 

He did with ease, his hands gripping her hips. While his strength alone didn’t impress her, the gentleness he instinctively combined with his might made her more than a little giddy. He had the ability to hurt her but she instinctively trusted he never would. At the same time, he never made her feel like a porcelain doll, meant only to be admired on a shelf. Letting her feel the power he held in check made her feel entrusted with a part of him he didn’t share with others. In some ways being with him reminded her of…she ruthlessly shut down that line of thought. 

Needing an immediate distraction from such dangerous daydreams, she tightened her legs around his waist and concentrated on a tender spot where the tendons in his neck met his shoulders. As she followed the line with her lips, he splayed his fingers wider and sunk them deeper into the flesh he was holding. Halfway up the stairs, she retraced the line, this time letting him feel the edge of her teeth. He stopped, shuddered, and in an instant, had her back pressed to the wall. 

She liked the wall.

Tonight, she’d already collected a slew of fabulous memories against the wall. This time he used his chest to pin her to it and took her face between his hands and deeply slanted his mouth against hers over and over. It was her turn to shudder. 

She didn’t notice when they started climbing the stairs again, didn’t look up until they were at the bedroom, but as they crossed the threshold, something changed; the frenzy fell away. She didn’t unclasp her hands from behind his neck, but in searching for steady ground, let her legs slip down from around his waist. 

Outside, the full moon was shrouded behind a moving veil of silver clouds. Shifting shadows haunted the corners of the room and at the same time, a breaking beam of crisp, clear moonlight fell on the dented pillows where their heads had earlier rested. The sight pulled Chloe up short. Sleeping wrapped in each other’s arms was an intimacy beyond just sex, no matter what she tried to tell herself. Longing for that deeper connection again rose in her chest. 

This was their last time together and the weight of that made it hard to breath.


	4. Part Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to post these final chapters. It's hard to let go of something I've been working with for so long. It's not exactly as I expected it to go, this final encounter - more romance novel than erotic, but the direction change felt right. Hope you agree. Thanks all for reading!

Part Four

 

Carter’s sorcerer’s hands swept from the nape of her neck to the lower curve of her back. A sparkle of feeling bubbled up her spine. His touch made thinking more difficult than breathing. Not thinking was good, she told herself. And talking? No, forming anything coherent was beyond her now. Better to just feel. Feeling was infinitely more satisfying. His denim clad leg slipped between her thighs again. The cool material quickly warmed as they continued to lean into one another, a soft press forward, a simple slide back, a light swerve of the hips meeting, testing, letting the anticipation grow. 

With her forearms still resting on the corded muscles by his shoulders, she raised a hand and grazed the side of his neck, skimming her short, neat nails through his beard and lingering on the concealed patches of bare skin she’d discovered along his earlobes and beneath his chin. Hand to flesh, a delicate, light touch but deepened a hundred times when he opened his gaze and shared the longing weighing in his eyes. She had to look away. 

His hands shifted, just the smallest brush of his fingers spreading and smoothing over her ass. She closed her eyes and sunk her teeth into her lower lip, absorbing the feeling of his fingers denting her flesh. A sweet, smooth warmth flowed beneath his touch; a shivery sensation sunk below her stomach. 

The thin linen shirt acted like a separate hand, caressing her curves with every breath she took. The gentle slide of material against her nipples raised them to stiff peaks. Her breasts felt full and achy, sending her brain a demand for attention that competed with the ones sent by the heavy ache between her legs. She wanted more but a part of her wanted to stay like this, focused in the moment, wonderfully aware of every second before it passed. 

Too aware.

From her scalp to her toes, she tingled, but the building arousal also came with sweeps of emotion too powerful to ignore. Apparently, clarity of mind wasn’t required for clarity of the heart. Panic hit. This wasn’t part of the plan. She wasn’t supposed to feel this way. Chloe squeezed her eyes shut and fought to pull up the veneer of detachment she’d wrapped around her life during the last couple years, but it was a losing battle. Before she could tamp down her fear, Carter caught a glimpse and tenderly cradled her face in his hands. 

“Hey, stay with me.” 

Her heart skipped a beat. Did he know how much he asked from her? Could he possibly understand how close she was to falling yet again for the impossible? Was stopping already too late? 

“Look at me,” he whispered. “Please,” he begged. Her plans to cloak her feelings fell away. She opened her eyes and met his urgent stare. 

Curly lashes and blue irises, deeper than the churning seas. Soft crinkled lines fanning from the corners of his eye, born in pain and reborn in hope. And his gentle smile so at odds with his rough exterior, dimpling his cheeks and lighting her soul. The tight ball of panic loosened, replaced by an open warm feeling. She couldn’t deny him or her emotions and suddenly felt foolish for trying. Even if she only had this final moment, it was more than many every found. She cupped the hands holding her face with her own and gazed back into his eyes. For an infinite moment, it was if they shared the secrets of the universe. Nothing held back.

*******

Carter recognized the instant when something changed for Chloe. He felt it too, the subtle awareness that something was different now and without thought, those ancient words that had become a mantra on his heart once again spilled out. _“Inty, ana, ihna. Imbarah, el-naharda, borkra, krull."_

Earlier, he offered them in comfort but now they were a promise. Everything. She deserved everything. Tonight, he’d stood high on the ancient cliffs and tried to find the way to say goodbye to someone he was never meant to leave. All evening he’d been trying to accomplish the same impossible chore. 

She was wiser than he, braver, bolder. He’d seen signs of it before, her warrior’s spirit, the kind of fearlessness not born of ignorance but of acceptance. In her eyes, he read the answers he should never have questioned. He wished he could have spared her the added pain but he was a selfish man and the unspoken message reaching out from her soul was the sweetest gift she could have given. 

He followed her lead and trusted destiny to remain in motion. He was done with goodbyes and done with hiding behind passion. He’d loved Shayera in innumerable lifetimes, but only in this lifetime was she Chloe Sullivan. This final time together was about one thing, love. 

Time slowed down.

Each second became etched with clarity, every touch and sound amplified in intensity. The rise and fall of their mingled breaths was loud in the moon shrouded bedroom. He moved his hands from her face and hers fell to rest on his chest. Still lost in the secrets shared in her eyes, he reached for her again to make sure she wasn’t another flickering vision. Using both hands, he ghosted his fingers down the regal curve of her neck. He hovered over her skin, touching her first with the heat from his body and then the sensitive plane of his palm. The pads on his fingers were rough and as his hands slid down her shoulders, they occasionally caught on the linen of her shirt. 

His shirt. 

His took smug satisfaction in Chloe wearing his clothing even if another more primal part to his psyche objected to her wearing any clothing. He ignored that voice for now and followed the discrete curves of her rounded breasts and the dip at her waist before curling his hands over the flare of her hips, working to lock every detail in his memory. Hers was a subtle, bewitching beauty, more captivating each time they met. 

She swayed toward him or maybe they were swaying together, initiating that intimate, ancient dance of seduction and nothing was more seductive than love. They moved to a slow, sinuous, rhythm, bodies melding closer while scarcely moving. He exhaled and she inhaled, she shivered and he soothed until his gentle touch released the next shiver. 

He backed them up until he felt the edge of the bed bumping his legs and then sat, spreading his knees until he could pull her between them. His hands nimbly traveled down her shirt, releasing the column of buttons, revealing a tantalizing strip of her sweet, pale skin. When the last pearly disc was undone, he smoothed his hands under her shirt along her waist and then up off her shoulder leaving the shirt to puddle around her feet. 

He pulled her to him. His mouth sought the silky heat of her stomach. Her unique fragrance filled his head and as he relished her satisfied sigh, her arms came around his neck. Her fingers speared into his hair while he continued to press hot, wet, open mouth kisses against her abdomen, along the curve of her ribs and eventually upward to tease the undersides of her breasts. So warm. So soft. 

He rubbed his cheek against the inside curve of her chest, scrapping the smooth perfection with his stubble and then soothing any sting with the lap of his tongue and the press of his lips. He tasted and nibbled the milky flesh of each breast before finally swiping his tongue against the hardened berries that were her nipples. Like sweet, pink raspberries drowning in cream, he drew them into his mouth and swirled around them with his tongue before adding suction and drawing the treat into his mouth. 

Chloe’s knees threatened to buckle beneath his ministrations, but he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her in place. He switched between mounds, savoring every shiver her body made and each gasp he drew from her lips. She leaned heavily against him, bracing herself against his shoulders. Still giving her lovely curves the attention they deserved with his mouth; he loosened his hands on her waist and followed the plush curves of her posterior. 

He’d always had extra appreciation for that particular body part, but they’d always been in too much a rush for him to properly take time to express his approval. He’d make time tonight. 

He stepped up from measuring her flesh with the breadth of his hands to squeezing and kneading the soft globes and paying careful attention to the top spot where her spine ended. Using his thumbs, he gently loosed and massaged delicate connections and occasionally turned his knuckles on the more stubborn knots in her muscles. Chloe moaned and leaned more heavily into him as he continued his combined attention on her breasts and bottom, his callused fingertips still occasionally sweeping low and scraping over the crease where her thighs met her body, driving her wild while still never touching her right where her body wept. She abandoned any teasing touches and just clung to him, shaking. 

He released her nipple with a final kiss and tilted his head back to study her face. Her eyes were scrunched tightly closed and her lower lip alternately pulled into her mouth and pursed into a circle while she panted. Even in the darkened room he could see the rosy fullness of her lush mouth and the growing flush stealing up from her body. He rose to his feet and snatched a quick taste of her mouth’s sweetness before he shucked off his jeans and urged Chloe to lie back onto the bed.

She scooted back until her head found the pillows and then smiling her ancient and glorious smile, opened her arms, reaching for and welcoming him home. Emotion swamped his heart and he froze. By the lords above, how was he going to leave this woman? How was he going to walk away again? The act suddenly was unimaginable. He thrust away that painful thought. It was not yet time for goodbyes.

Slowly crawling up her body, he trapped her legs between his open knees and gently lowered himself to her, careful to keep the majority of his weight off her as he accepted her invitation and let his heat meld with her exquisite softness. His rock hard erection trapped between them, he bit back a groan and resisted the urge to rock into the soft cushion of her abdomen. Instead, he concentrated on the rapid beat of her heart thumping in time with his while he breathed in the heady aroma of her desire. He slipped a hand beneath the back of her head and took possession of her lips, delving into the soft succulent depths of her mouth, humming against the rough silkiness of her tongue meeting his again and again. 

Her hands moved restlessly across his shoulders and back as they got lost in the kiss. Each touch of her fingertips against his skin was like a drop of warm rain poured from the heavens. He was drowning in her and at the same time, she was burning him alive. 

Not wanting to break apart but wanting badly to touch the woman beneath him, he reluctantly moved onto his side, curling around her as she lay on her back. Needing to hold her, he slipped his right arm around her waist, sliding it underneath the curve of her back and reaching for her hand resting at her side. 

The new position gave him access to her sweet mouth and the chance to watch her expressive face while at the same time, it granted his free hand the full sweep of the banquet laid out before him. She watched him curiously, trust and expectant want shaded her expression. 

He tenderly brushed the curve of her cheek before trailing the back of his fingers down again over the elegant slopes of her body: the refined line of her neck, the enticing curves of her swollen breasts, the concave plane of her stomach, and the slight swell leading to the sultry heat between her legs. He mapped them all and then traced lines down one thigh and up the other and then repeated the pattern while he stared into her darkened eyes, sharing her breath and counting her sighs.

He watched her eyelids flutter as his fingers went from creating delicate circles on her inner thighs to tiny loops up and down the seam of her sex. She jumped when the tip of his thumbnail skimmed over the nerve packed bulb peeking out and groaned when he carefully inserted first his index finger and then the one next to it into her tight, wet opening and pressed upward. Chloe gasped and her soft, humid heat tightened around his digits. 

From the flush of color rising along her collar bone and the restlessness of her head on the pillow, Carter knew she was close to falling over the edge and he desperately wanted to watch her go over, but he stretched out the moment a little longer, slowly sliding his fingers in and curling them forward before dragging them out. Her pants turned to whimpers.

Outside her body, his pointer finger and pinkie flared to either side and rode the sensitive crease angling from her thighs while inside he kept his two middle fingers curved at a right angle, increasing his speed, plunging fast and hard into her slick channel. At the change of pace she almost immediately stiffened and clutched at his other hand. He soaked up the sight of the blissful shudder that rolled up her body, feeling her inner contractions ripple around his fingers. His heart beat like a jackhammer in anticipation as he slowly pulled his fingers from her still spasming body. 

He reached for her knees and guided the leg pressed next to him up and then back until it hooked over his thigh, leaving her glistening entrance exposed. He kissed her neck and swept his hand from the hollow of her collar bone to the soft pillow of her stomach then down her other thigh and back up, soothing and reawakening her banked arousal at the same time. He reached between their bodies for his throbbing cock and rubbed the weeping, rounded tip up and down her wet lips. A dreamy sigh whispered against his temple and her legs fell open wider as he guided his cock from below to her entrance and pressed. He lifted his head and watched her face as he began to slide into her tight warm heat. Her breath hitched and the hand he held squeezed hard. 

He bent his knee a bit more so his one foot was flat on the mattress; it gave him the right amount of purchase to steadily move past her body’s instinctive resistance and slide in deep. 

He groaned and let his head fall back in satisfaction. The sultry heat and the snug pressure encasing his cock sent pleasure searing into his brain. He pulled back his hips and thrust forward again, pressing in to the end of her channel to feel the almost stinging bliss around the head of his shaft. The sensations doubled when Chloe shivered and clenched hard around him. He buried his face into her golden hair and whispered against the delicate pink shell of her ear, low, husky, sighs that spoke of his endless love and eternal desire harnessing words from a dialect so ancient, no one but he remembered its existence.

Chloe turned toward Carter’s voice. The deep, melodic timbre and exotic expressions left her enthralled. The aching sheen of emotion reflected in his eyes was the only translation she needed. She reached up and grazed his stubbled jaw before sinking her fingers back into his hair and clutching at his silken strands. She closed her eyes as his deep, steady thrusts filled her and rapidly built into a sharp edged pleasure. Her body was still sensitized from her earlier release and she suspected her emotions were equally as raw but she only felt treasured and sheltered by the way he made love to her. 

Her speeding heart tripped over the word love, but she didn’t pause to pick apart the feeling, she’d already accepted the truth of it, and yet the glorious wonder of being tenderly cradled in his arms while his body relentlessly possessed hers was like discovering the secret to transmute lead into gold, the sort of alchemy labeled fantasy while still sought by all. Sensation overwhelmed her and again, she flew apart in his arms. Her neck arched back and he mouthed the underside of her jaw while she gasped for air and trembled in delight. He again worked to sooth her as she came down from such stunning heights. 

Then, releasing her leg that he had hooked over his thigh, Carter shifted next to her on the mattress, briefly separating their bodies before stretching out on top of her and reseating his flesh. She shuddered as he settled over her. This was what she was craving. His weight resting on her, her knees crisscrossed over his waist, his skin hot beneath her searching hands, his scent -like leather and musk- heavy in the air and his thick cock filling her up. The indescribable feeling of rightness sprung not just from a skilled mix of slow, deep, breath snatching strokes and wild, hard, toe-curling thrusts, but something more elemental. The forces of nature and nurture in balance, body and soul finding connection as two imperfect halves formed on perfect whole. Her senses flared and her mind dimmed.

She gave herself up to the spell they conjured together, reaching for and commanding the explosive pleasure they created between them. An iridescent glow rolled up in waves, the joyous heat and need growing, merging and doubling in power before being cast out like a blast setting off the universe, destined to drift on towards forever. Everything turned soft and dreamy. Hearts beating as one, they held on to each other until sleep pulled them under.

 

****  
Carter reached for her but did not awaken as she slipped from bed. Silently, Chloe watched him sleep for a moment, taking one last memory with her before she left. A chartered boat waited on the beach. She would gather her things and steal away before the first blush of light touched the sky. Chances were Cater would still be asleep when she reached the mainland.

She didn't leave a note. There was nothing left to say.


	5. Epilogue 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **_December 12th, 2010 – Metropolis- Luthorcorp Tower_ **

Agony. 

The taste of copper in the back of his throat. Fire. Searing heat. One last save. Falling, falling. Save her for him. 

Save her for HER.

For HER he finds the speed to reach her and the strength to slow the endless fall. 

The pavement is unforgiving. It shakes his bones, squeezes out his breath, and sends his helmet skittering across the wet slab.

Pain.

The grey pulls at him, but he fights to hold on until he can turn over the gift. He fixes HER face in his mind. HER smile. HER heat. HER love. Soon. Soon. 

He hands over his gift. 

Pain slips to numbness.

Someone calls his name but only one name whispers through his mind. 

_Chloe._

Numbness falls to black.


	6. Epilogue 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _**December 15th, 2010 –Undisclosed Location.** _

In the hidden basement of an abandoned warehouse, two stories below ground, Chloe sat in front of a bank of monitors, sifting through transmissions and scrolling down through the activity reports clogging her email. During her time away, she had made alliances in unexpected places, their loyalty ensured by extreme measures true, but her team was in place. Now she was tasked with hardest part of her mission, the final wait. Halfway down the list of emails, a report on a flight plan filed with the FAA made her freeze. She clicked on the link. 

Metropolis to Cairo. The addendum from the TSA authorized transport of human remains. 

She read the name and a great gaping hole punched through her heart. She could not breathe. Her lungs hurt. The emptiness made everything hurt and then the blessed numbness filled in the space. It would not last long, but it would have to last long enough. This was only the first blow. 

The wait was over. This was the reason she’d given up everything. She ran a preset search that confirmed what she knew was coming. Oliver Queen’s jet landed on Egyptian soil forty-eight hours ago and according to the missing person’s report filed by his pilot, Oliver vanished the same day. Further checks confirmed the worst. Everyone was gone. Clark, Lois, Bart, Victor, Courtney, Dinah, Zantana, A.C. and even J’onn - all passengers on the flight and all missing. She’d thought she’d known what was coming, but it was almost unimaginable. Snatched up and made to vanish. How? Where were they? Days had already passed. They could be anywhere. Anything could have happened to them. 

Chloe forced herself to take a slow deep breath, fighting against the onslaught of fears. Fate was on her side and she was as ready as she ever could be. She scrambled to put the protocols she’s established into action. Let the search began.

Somehow she’d find them. She clung to that certainty. Somehow she’d save them and then…her mind trailed off. Her future didn’t come with preset instructions after that. So much had happened; Chloe Sullivan didn’t even exist anymore. Where to start? She had no home, no identity and no idea what her life would look like when she returned - if she returned. All she had to cling to was the promise she made to Carter Hall. 

Find what made her happy. 

The numbness faltered and a wave of pain washed over her. She clenched her fists, trying to hold it back just a little while longer. She would find Clark and Lois and all the others, she vowed. This was her destiny. She would save them…but she couldn’t save everyone. 

Too late. Since the moment she put on Fate’s Helmet. Too late. 

Hawkman was dead.

Her hands trembled as she shut down her computers. She’d known this day was coming. The death of Hawkman was the sign signaling the catastrophe Fate would have her undo, but there was no undoing Carter’s fate. 

The tears came before she realized she was crying, sliding hot and silent down her cheeks. She wiped at her face only for a dry sob to break out. Like the undertow in the ocean, currents of her grief grabbed at her, ready to pull her under. Another sob tore through her, overwhelming the last of her resistance. Chloe dropped her head into the cradle of her arms and let the waves of emotion crash over her. 

Pain. Sorrow. Fear. Guilt.

 

With one phone call and one request, she’d altered the course of mankind and traded in a man’s life. Every choice was a domino. Her call to Carter, his to Perry, then White’s message to Lois the moment her plane landed, forcing Lois to board the next flight to Cairo without ever leaving the airport. 

Had Lois left the airport, Fate revealed she would have died a senseless death. A random mugging gone bad over the refusal of her bag. Then the next set of dominoes would have fallen.

Clark would blame himself for keeping the truth from Lois and not asking her to stay. His guilt would fuel his anger and under the weight of even one more shadow, he would fall to the coming darkness and then the world would follow. It was the right decision, the only decision. Carter would have understood, but the facts remained the same. She played god; Carter paid with his life. 

Never again. 

Why did it have to have be him? She ached for him beyond all reasoning; she couldn't explain it to herself, how could she ever explain it to anyone else? They’d been close, but in a manner that mere words made sound tawdry. And maybe it should have been, but it never was. And even if she could explain why she’d loved him, those memories were now tangled with his death. Fate chose its course, but she’d placed Cater along its path. 

Fresh tears arose. She gave herself over to her grief for the next twenty minutes. Then, tapping into the very core of her strength, she fought the tide and pushed the pain back down, locking it away. She was alone again and grieving was a luxury she could no longer afford. Not now. Maybe not ever. Didn’t matter anyway. Twenty minutes or twenty years, she already knew his loss would always be with her. 

Her head hurt. Her eyes were swollen; her tongue felt thick, her throat scratchy and her cheeks stung from the salt in her tears. Chloe wiped at the wet tracks on her cheeks. She refused to shed another tear. 

The man she knew would not want her to remember him in sorrow, but with joy and he had given her so much joy, proving to her along the way there was no shame in reaching for it. Carter’s face floated back to her. She’d looked into his ancient eyes. He hadn’t feared death. The memory soothed the wretched wound now permanently marked next to her heart. 

She sniffed as a smile slowly curved her lips. He’d been certain he’d reversed his curse and she wished she could have told him his faith had been well placed. She didn’t know why she’d been forbidden to tell Carter of the last glimpse given to her by Fate’s Helmet. 

The images were fuzzy but the feelings clear; next time around everything he’d ever dreamed of would be his. It was a fated promise. And though she couldn’t explain it, somehow, she knew when the time came, she’d have a front row seat to watch everything unfold.

The softly whispered words Carter spoke to calm her tears - hazy words she’d struggled to understand - suddenly came to her. In his name, she repeated the oddly comforting foreign phrases. _“Inty, ana, ihna. Imbarah, el-naharda, borkra, qaruba kahalada. “_

Lifting her eyes and pressing her hand to her lips, she placed a kiss against her fingertips and then freed it on the universe.

“Until we meet again, Carter Hall.” 

**The End**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note: Please note the two Egyptian Arabic to English translations: 
> 
>  
> 
> **What Cater Hall said:**
> 
>  
> 
> _“Inty, ana, ihna. Imbarah, el-naharda, borkra. Krull."_ You, me, us. Yesterday, today, tomorrow - Everything. 
> 
>  
> 
> **What Chloe said:**
> 
>  
> 
> _“Inty, ana, ihna. Imbarah, el-naharda, borkra, qaruba kahalada.”_ You, me, us. Yesterday, today, tomorrow, soon forever.


End file.
